Flowers weren't always the mild-mannered simile for beauty they are today. Take dahlias: harmless filler flower now, formerly the Aztec flower of war, the bloom of choice to accompany human sacrifices to the Serpent Woman.

(I feel like I just broke some unspoken rule about keeping the phrase "human sacrifices" out of feel-good flower posts. Oh well.)

Then there's tulips. Today they crowd the entrance to every convenience store, yet during Holland's Tulpenwoede ("tulip fury") a single bulb was once sold in exchange for several loads of wheat, oxen, a mess of pigs, a dozen sheep, booze, butter, 1000 lbs of cheese, a bed, a suit of clothes and a silver beaker (see Torontonian Andrew Smith's excellent "Strangers in the Garden".)

Proust said he only had to think of lilacs to smell their scent. For those of us with less vivid sense memory, here is a short list of some of Toronto's best florists (which almost never trade in oxen).

Toronto's best falafel (or, as the Simpsons would have it, "crunchpatty") is a controversial topic. Falafels, like curries, can be found in a number of variations in different areas of the world.

Sampling falafels sold in Toronto often means sampling the background of the owner or chef, and Toronto's multifaceted ethnic tapestry provides falafel lovers with an enormous number of outlets, no two of which seem to serve quite the same food in the same form for the same price.

You can't swing a Danish teak side table without hitting a great vintage furniture store in Toronto. Vintage furniture can be bought as-is, refurbished, or you can get vintage essence by picking up a reproduction of a classic.

Most of the stores listed here offer a little of all of the above. But they're all good options, and they all get us out of the stores where one beige starts to look very much like another, and back into the scary and exciting world of personal style.

Tea people are just nice people. They're as knowledgeable and passionate about their product as coffee people, only slightly less keyed up and twitchy.

And, let's just get it out of the way, when we're talking about tea, we're talking places that specialize in looseleaf tea (one exception to be spotted below). Most prepacked bagged tea is made with the bits and pieces left over after sorting out the tea leaves. They take the sweepings, the tea "dust", the remnants of real tea, then they bag them, and we drink it. You deserve better than bagged floor scrapings.

The weather is warming up and summer's marquee fruits and vegetables are well on their way to your kitchen. And the best place to get your share of this upcoming local bounty is at one of Toronto's many farmers' markets, most of which are now open for the season.

Market shopping is a great way to eat local, high quality, super fresh food. Talk to the people who grow and care for our food, and learn about different varieties, including heirloom and other flavourful varieties you won't find at No Frills. Plus, it reduces your carbon footprint, as nothing is shipped across the continent.

Farmers' markets are not just for your fruits and vegetables, although those items alone are enough reason to pay a visit. Expect to find meats and fish, herbs, honey, mushrooms, garlic, eggs, cheese, bread and other baked treats, preserves, jams and even plants and flowers.

Being an inveterate drunk you'd think writing this post would be easy. I spend a lot of time in pubs 'Keeping a shine on the bar with the sleeves of my coat' but I realized during the writing process that putting in your time at pubs can be counter productive since, by the time you're done, you're not really in any condition to be critical of such places. You always leave with a slight wobble and a warm fuzzy feeling as you walk out the door .

It's once you walk out the door, alone into midnight and our cold common darkness, pulling your collar up in the way you'd imagine Tom Waits does (ah, you're such a romantic) that it hits you.